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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Welcome to day three of our Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party! Today's theme is chocolate! I am sharing a favorite allergy-free cupcake recipe amongst the younger crowd. This chocolate cupcake is light, moist, easy to make, and has a mild chocolate flavor. The great thing about this recipe is the fact that all children love it, gluten-free or not. I also have another fun giveaway for you, read on to find out....

My 5-year old nephew was just in town visiting. I made these cupcakes for a bake sale at my children's school this past weekend. Of course I had to save a few of them! My nephew, who isn't gluten-free, loved them and asked me to send the recipe to his mom (along with a number of other recipes I made)!

Like my Soft Molasses Cookie recipe, I use either Sucanat or Coconut Sugar for the sweetener. I have tested it with organic cane sugar and the overall flavor lacked the depth that only a dark, rich sugar can give. Sucanat or Coconut Sugar work beautifully. If you haven't yet entered the giveaway for the 2-pound bag of Coconut Sugar, you still have time, go to my last post to enter.

If you are interested in baking gluten-free cakes or cupcakes from a mix then I have just the thing! Authentic Foodshas offered 6 Vanilla Bean Cake Mixesfor a giveaway here. I love using their superfine flours in baking. You'll see a number of recipes on this blog using their flours and arrowroot powder. To be entered in the giveaway justleave a comment. To be entered twice you can share this on twitter or facebook, just be sure to come back and leave a second comment! The giveawy will remain open until 9pm PST on December 11th. I will choose 6 names using Random Number Generator so please check back to see if you won and then email me with your contact info!

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes are perfect for a child’s birthday party or a special occasion. They have a simple, mild chocolate flavor and great texture that all children will love, gluten-free or not. I prefer the neutral flavor of grapeseed oil in these cupcakes. Coconut oil works too but will give the cupcakes a slight coconut flavor. Frost with the Chocolate Agave frosting recipe below. You can easily cut the recipe in half to make 9 cupcakes if you don't need all 18. If you are curious about some of the products we use then please visit the Links To Products We Use post for more information and of course the links.

This frosting has the perfect amount of sweetness with a mild chocolate flavor. It is luscious and fluffy, just perfect for frosting your favorite layered cake or cupcakes! For frosting a dozen cupcakes, make a ½ batch of this recipe.

You might also like my recipe for Vanilla Frosting (vegan, soy-free, sugar-free). It can be colored with a small amount of beet juice to create a lovely pink-colored frosting.

For more holiday dessert recipes, please visit all of the blogs participating in the Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party! Each day this week you’ll find new gluten free desserts being “served” by other bloggers. Follow the schedule as you would a map through a neighborhood. Stop by, leave a comment, pass on the information to your friends, and have a wonderful time!

About the Author

Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole foods diet. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram!

Those look spectacular, Ali! It's terrific that your nephew loved them so, but I'm not surprised at all.

I've never tried any products from Authentic Foods, but I know a lot of folks love them for just the reason you cited--superfine flour. Superfine flour is definitely needed for baking of gluten free sweets if one doesn't want texture issues.

Wow! Those look delicious. My little guy was very sad the other day when a classmate brought cupcakes to school and he couldn't eat one. I will have to make some of these for him soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Wahoo! These look awesome. I will be baking them VERY soon. I made a batch of gluten/dairy/egg free vanilla cupcakes from a cookbook called "Babycakes" and they were great. I'm positive that your recipe is fantastic. I can't wait to try it out. Speaking of baking, I made your pumpkin pie recipe from your book and it was absolutely stellar! I "cheated" and used canned sweet potato mush, but it turned out perfectly. My daughter and son fought over the last piece. Definitely a winner! Thank you so much for sharing with us the talents you have been given. You have been such a blessing to my family.

Oh, and just a curious question about the cupcake recipe. I noted that you are using palm shortening instead of coconut oil in these. Any particular reason for that?

Thanks for the yummy-looking recipe! And thank you, too, for the detail of your recipes. I love to know that you use stone cupcake pans, for example. I didn't even know they existed, but now one will be on my Christmas list.

Yet another delicious dessert to try. Gotta get bakin'! I have to keep a ready supply of cupcakes at my son's school, should another child's parent bring goodies to class in honor of their student's birthday. These will be perfect - frozen too. Thanks!

I love your recipes, they are really helpful for me as I recently became gluten free and am now trying to go sugar free aswell. I made your soft molasses cookies with date sugar a few days ago and I just love them. My friend who has no food restrictions also loved them. THANK YOU!

I think I'm going to try making these with cherries for the holidays! : ) These looks absolutely AMAZING. Thanks for sharing yet ANOTHER incredible looking recipe. When do you expect us to eat all this stuff? ;) -Kim

Ali, I made these for a birthday party and they were GREAT! I made a frosting out of cashews, a little coconut oil, cocoa powder, water to blend, vanilla bean, sea salt and agave and it worked out really well...so yummy!

Oh, sweet goodness! I just baked these tonight... my excuse was my baby's 7 month birthday, which is tomorrow. ;-) (he will not be getting any...at least not directly). I added an extra teaspoon of almond extract and put a little dollop of raspberry preserves in the center of 1/2 the cupcakes. AMAZING!!! My husband and I couldn't stop eating them!! Hopefully there will be some left to frost tomorrow.Thank you again for these delicious recipes.

Just tried these for my son's 2nd bday - they are amazing. Moist, chocolatey, and the chocolate frosting is great. I used regular cane sugar, and canola oil instead of grapeseed, and still was really happy with the result. Thanks!

I made your double chocolate cake for Easter and could NOT get my icing recipes to work (I wanted fruit based) so I made this icing recipe, substituting the palm shortening with virgin coconut oil and the arrowroot with tapioca flour. I did a choc version and a 'white' version (omitting the vanilla and cocoa) for decorating. It piped well and tasted delish!! Although there were definitely melting issues, (the iced cake stayed in the fridge till we cut it) was very happy with the result. Thanks again!!

I have tried to find a birthday cake recipe that doesn't taste "vegan" since learning I had sensitivities to gluten, dairy and eggs, but hadn't found one I also felt good serving my "normal" diet family members. I tried this as an 8 in. two-layer cake. It passed with flying colors! (I don't think my husband realized it was vegan!) And the frosting...wow. I love that it doesn't contain powdered sugar, and because of that, doesn't dry out quickly. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! My name is Alissa Segersten and I've had a love of healthy food and cooking since the age of 10. When I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2001, I diligently began writing down my recipes because so many people would ask for them! Some of these recipes appeared in my first book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. I now have 5 children and am passionate about educating them about our food system so they can make the most informed choices as they grow up and are exposed to a world of processed, chemical-laden foods. Join me in my mission of helping to support families with nourishing meals!